I Can't Imagine a World With You Gone
by Once.upon.a.happy.ending
Summary: They all think that Neal's been dead for a while now... well, except for Emma. TW: Hospitals


"I'm not gonna let you _kill _him," Emma protests, looking between her parents and Dr. Whale.

Snow turns to Emma, putting her hand on her arm. "Honey, he was already gone when he got here," and Emma shakes her head as well as she can her eyes starting to water, "it's not fair or even _humane _to put this off just for his family. It's already been two days that we've been trying to do this- you need to get up and take care of yourself now."

"You can't do that! He wouldn't want to die, especially if we can wait and see if he gets better!" she's nearing hysterics at this point- it almost feels like she shouldn't be allowed to be this upset- she'd been so _mean _to him since they'd found him in Manhattan. She'd even told him that she'd wished he was _dead. _

Now, well… she's made it very clear to everyone involved that she'll hold onto him until _she _dies if it means that they won't remove him from the ventilator. And if she's made it her life mission, she can only pray that they'd respect that and _not do it. _

Snow looks at her, shaking her head, "Honey, he's already dead," she whispers, gently- she's sure this isn't exactly news to her, but if it is, she doesn't want to be rude and loud about it- she wants to let her down slowly.

"Then why is his heart beating?" Emma retorts, looking up at her parents and Whale with an absolute _death glare _in her eyes.

They all look at each other, and then back at her. "What do you mean his heart is beating?" Whale steps forwards, messing with the machine around him.

"I mean I can feel it, what do you think?" she rolls her eyes and he moves forwards to check his pulse, and he steps back, looking at her.

He takes a breath and looks between her parents and her. "Can you try waking him up?" and she nods, just a bit reluctant as she doesn't want to look completely stupid, but if it'll bring him back to her… "Just do what you normally would if this… wasn't the situation."

She agrees as they all take a step away from her and Neal. She turns over, lying on her stomach with one arm propping her up. "Hey, Neal," she whispers, looking over at them as they watch. Snow gives her an encouraging look and she looks back at him. "Neal. It's time to wake up. Hey, wake up," she slowly gets louder as she gets more and more frustrated.

She finally sighs, giving up and going to her last-resort method. "Can you guys go? Or like plug your ears or something? Because this is gonna be kinda loud," she asks, and they all nod, walking out to go in the hallway.

She looks back at him and puts her hand on his shoulder, starting to shake him _violently, _"Neal, we have to _go, _come on, wake up," and she does it fairly loudly- mostly she wanted them to leave so that they wouldn't look at her like she lost her mind.

It's how she used to wake him up- whenever they'd be in a motel in Portland and she was the one tasked with getting both of them up. It was one of the few things that would get him to quit fake-sleeping and start getting dressed and ready to go.

Some part of him must remember, because he start stirring right then, and opens his eyes just a few seconds later. Almost immediately, he's breathing against the tube in his throat and his eyes are starting to water and he's clearly a little bit freaked out- it makes sense, the last thing he can remember is dying in the woods, and now he's in the hospital and he _can't breathe. _

She leans back and she starts rubbing his chest, "It's okay, just calm down. You're okay, alright? It's okay," she whispers as her parents and Whale come back in.

Whale comes over to the bed, and Emma continues talking to Neal, even once he's calmed down more, "You're gonna be fine."

Whale unfastens the belt around his face, "Okay, I'm taking it out now. It would really, really help if you could try to cough. It's okay if you can't, it'll be uncomfortable but it'll speed this up," and Neal does what he says- or tries to, at least.

He reaches over and hands him a water- a tube in your throat can make it really, really dry.

Once that's over, Emma looks up at him and launches herself at him- or as best as she can. "I missed you _so much_,' she mumbles into his shoulder. He starts rubbing her back- he's not sure what just happened, but he's sure that she's feeling _something _right now and he'd like to keep it positive- he did just sort of come back from the dead, after all.

"I don't remember anything- but if I had been able to think when _that _was going on, I would've missed you, too," she buries her face in his neck and he turns his head just enough to kiss her on the head.

She leans back from him and she sits up, putting her arms over his shoulders and kissing him.

He's caught by surprise and makes a strangled noise as she does it, but he doesn't hesitate to kiss her back.

She pulls away first and smiles at him extra big- "If you ever leave me again, in _any _way, I promise you that I _will _cry. A _lot. _In front of you. Got it?"

He nods and pulls her back to him- normally he wouldn't but, hey. As a newly revived(ish) ex-dead man, he feels like he might just have earned being able to hold onto her for dear life for a while.

Or who knows.

Maybe the rest of their lives, too.


End file.
